JJ McCarthy has a good height for the position and a very slender build, but he lacks muscle mass (he reportedly gained about 15 lbs before the combine, which is a positive development). McCarthy is a good athlete, capable of extending plays with his legs or gaining yards on the ground. While he doesn't possess the athletic capabilities of other QBs in this class, such as Jayden Daniels or Caleb Williams, he remains more than viable in this aspect.

JJ McCarthy has decent arm talent and an interesting quick release (Quick release refers to the time it takes for the ball to be released from the throw.)He can deliver a lot of velocity on his short and intermediate throws but does so more inconsistently on the long passes. His throwing mechanics fall between traditional and sidearm, which causes him significant issues. He struggles to balance velocity with touch; generally, he fires rockets regardless of the throw type, resulting in a very tight trajectory with his throwing mechanics, which makes all his passes playable by opposing defenders. He significantly lacks touch on deep passes; I've seen him a few times trying to add more touch to the ball with an arcing trajectory, but it was completely inaccurate and appeared very unnatural.

This throwing mechanics lead to issues with touch, and consequently, ball placement problems (which should not be confused with accuracy). On short and intermediate throws, he has good accuracy but sometimes lacks ball placement (rare enough to be noticeable but significant enough to mention). Quite often, he delivers completely missed passes to the outside when the receiver is wide open, and once again, the mechanics are to blame. On deep throws, he lacks precision and ball placement significantly. His passes are extremely difficult for receivers to play due to the trajectory of the throws, but as mentioned earlier, not for cornerbacks or safeties. McCarthy is very comfortable outside the structure, managing to maintain precision on his short and intermediate throws and retain good velocity.

McCarthy's pocket process is still developing; he is inconsistent in his decision-making and quick processing. He tends to stick with his first read too long, which allows defenses to make plays. When required to go through multiple progressions, he struggles to scan and analyze the field effectively, often necessitating his receivers to adjust their routes frequently. McCarthy has an average pre-snap read of defenses, struggling to recognize blitzes. This difficulty extends to post-snap, where he can be deceived by disguised coverages. His reading of the middle of the field or the backfield, especially in traffic, is very poor. The only times he shows fewer reading issues are during play-action, which potentially gives him more time and simplifies post-snap reading.

JJ McCarthy has not performed many stepbacks in his career and is not the most comfortable when asked to do so, but conversely, he has taken some handoffs, giving him a slight edge in adapting to NFL systems, even though the shotgun formation has become more prevalent in recent years.

JJ McCarthy is clearly not the "once in a generation" QB as his coach at Michigan, Jim Harbaugh, claimed. He has flashed some very good things but also shown less impressive aspects, despite playing in a system that promotes easy reads and where the pressure was not primarily on his shoulders. Personally, his mechanics and the fact that he has only one throwing speed without ball touch concern me regarding his development in the NFL, especially for long throws. This could affect his ability to be a playmaker and take control of the game. I view JJ more as a developmental prospect who won't fit into every system. A system that emphasizes a strong running game, facilitating play-action setups, could be very beneficial for him (akin to Shanahan's system with the 49ers), considering his qualities as a game manager and ability to operate outside the structure.
I evaluate JJ McCarthy as a second-round talent.